No hope left
by Yoshiko Kyoda
Summary: FINISHED! A powerful shadow demon called Shaid, steals the one thing that keeps the world from crumbling. One by one, everyone is dying... is it possible for Yusuke to stop the destruction? KH
1. The demon Shaid strikes

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters.

Chapter One: The demon Shaid strikes

            In the dark dungeons of the underworld, deep within the palace where King Enma's most favored treasures were kept lurked a shadow. Numerous ogre guards stood about, on guard duty for the treasures. The treasure chamber was a dimly lit area, casting many shadows. At the heart of the chamber on an elevated and well-guarded pedestal rested an opaque black orb that emitted an eerie purple glow. Several ogres stood around the base of the pedestal, armed with broad swords and large axes. A shadow on the floor that belonged to one of the ogres moved and part of it slinked away and up to the other ogres quietly. Looking down at the live shadow, two red eyes appeared and the ogres hesitated. The shadow raised itself slowly out of the floor and took the shape of a hooded figure. Only its two menacing red eyes were visible under the hood. Fearfully, the ogres gripped their weapons tighter. The hooded figure reached inside its cloak and withdrew several small daggers that it threw down onto the ogres' shadows, piercing their shadows at vital points. Coughing up blood, the ogres fell lifeless to the cold chamber floor. The hooded silhouette grabbed the glowing black orb and tucked it inside its black abyss of a cloak. An high pitched alarm rang out and every ogre in the vicinity ran towards the sly demon as it was sucked back into the floor and swiftly moved towards the exit into a long, dark corridor. Countless ogres tried to block the exit from the shadow demon but it was no use. One even dropped its heavy ax onto the shadow but the demon remained unaffected. The shadow demon laughed contemptuously at the futile attempts of the ogres. Deciding to toy with them a bit, the demon sprang from the floor and slain many with its unlimited number of knives.

            The small toddler whom was currently in charge of Spirit World, Koenma, was shuffling and stamping his approval on important papers at his oak desk when a loud alarm sounded. Koenma jumped up, startled, and stood on his chair as the grim reaper herself ran in, panicked.

            "Report!" Koenma demanded sharply.

            "Koenma, sir! A demon has infiltrated the palace and has stolen one of your father's favorite treasures!!!" Botan exclaimed, out of breath.

            He gulped. This would only mean spankings for him in the future if King Enma found out one of the sacred treasures had been stolen again. "Which treasure has been stolen?" Koenma tried to keep his voice even. "Was it the Rapacious Orb, the Mirror of Darkness, or the Conjuring Blade?"

            Botan shook her head, vigorously. "It's none of those, sir. It's taken the Orb of Order!!!" Botan exclaimed, knowing the full risk of what could happen if the demon escaped.

            Dread filled Koenma as the bottom of his stomach dropped. "Stop that demon _now_! Do anything and everything to stop it; or both worlds will cease to exist!" Koenma ordered.

            Botan nodded and with a flash of light her flying boat oar appeared. She jumped onto her boat oar, flying down a passageway towards where the demon was last sighted.

            Assaulting both shadow and flesh with the small blades, the shadow demon was surrounded by a sea of ogre corpses but more kept coming and piling up in the halls of the dungeon. The demon's hood turned, the malicious red eyes saw Botan flying straight at it. The flat of the oar collided with the hood of the demon. Knocking the demon off balance, it vanished into the shadows on the wall. Botan landed on the rubble and took in the sight of all the dead ogres. A fist came out of the shadows, punching Botan hard in the jaw. Regaining her footing on the unstable ground, Botan began an incantation she had recently learned to seal demons away into hell.

            "By the power in me as the guide to the underworld, I use my white magic to-"

            Recognizing the incantation, fear swept through the demon but it quickly recovered. "Time to make my grand escape… I'll send you all to Hell instead!"

            A powerful shockwave was sent out in all directions, hitting Botan and the oncoming ogres, preventing Botan from finishing her sealing spell. The force from the seismic wave attack knocked the wind out of Botan and sent her through stonewall. Her moral fiber groaned and splintered with a sickening crack. Screaming in pain her head smashed into another wall and she stopped moving. Vision blurred and pain searing throughout her entire body, she didn't notice the ceiling beginning to collapse. Before the ceiling collapsed on the demon, it dived back into the shadows on the floor. A few minutes later when everything stopped and the dust settled; the shadow demon reappeared from the rock, rubble, and dead bodies. Struggling against death, Botan barely opened one eye and saw the shadow demon standing over her laughing spitefully.

            "Hah! I finally have it! The Orb of Order! No one can stop the ultimate shadow demon, Shaid!" Shaid was consumed by the shadows and vanished with the orb.

            Botan breathed unevenly and winced at every intake of breath. Desperately calling, Botan cried, "Yu… suke…"

TO BE CONTINUED

Hope that was interesting enough for you. Can't promise the next chapter will be out soon. Ja ne!


	2. Bad News

Chapter Two: Bad News

Yusuke Urameshi leaned against a stonewall that bordered his school, Sarayashiki Public Junior High. Keiko was chatting with some friends. Sighing, Yusuke wished she would hurry up; he wanted to hurry up and get this date over with. He liked Keiko and all but he just didn't find dating to be his thing.

"Urameshi!" came the annoying voice Yusuke knew all too well.

"What do you want now, Kuwabara?" Yusuke grumbled as he tilted his head skyward.

Two other figures approached along with Kuwabara. Hiei was glancing around at all the humans with his usual scowl. Kurama was rather pale and his green eyes looked very tired. Kuwabara was wearing his school uniform and so was Kurama but Hiei was wearing a black T-shirt, leather jacket, with jeans torn at the knees. "We think something's gone wrong… in Spirit World I mean…" Kurama said in a weaker tone than usual.

Yusuke noticed how ill Kurama was looking. "Are you okay, Kurama? You don't look so good."

Kurama waved his hand and closed his eyes as if to brush the topic aside. "Just a little under the weather, but I'll be okay."

Hiei shifted his gaze to Yusuke. "We've been told that a violent demon has recently stolen something very important from King Enma's treasury. No one's told us quite what it is. Must be a high ranking top secret I guess." Hiei explained, bored.

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders. "Another robbery mission? No sweat." He looked up at the sky again and it somehow seemed darker. The world itself seemed to be silenced and far away.

Kurama brought Yusuke out of his thoughts. "I found out more than Hiei did about this treasure. It is supposedly to have the power to end all life, as we know it. But how it does so is still a mystery. When in the wrong hands, it'll bring about the destruction of us all."

A cold wind blew and Kuwabara shivered. "I have a bad feeling about this." Kuwabara muttered.

"Yusuke?" Keiko tugged on Yusuke's arm. "Come on Yusuke, I'm getting hungry."

Yusuke promptly removed Keiko from his arm. "I have to do a mission so we'll have to cancel our date." He turned away from Keiko and was starting to walk with the others in the opposite direction when he was violently pulled back by his collar.

"I see what you're trying to do! You keep running off on our dates! You never care about how I feel anymore!" Keiko shouted.

Worried that attention would be drawn to them and not wanting to start a conflict, Kurama spoke up. "Go ahead Yusuke. We should be able to hold our own against this demon. Don't worry about us."

Sighing, Yusuke went in the opposite direction with Keiko. "Damn _kitsune_." He muttered sarcastically.

Kuwabara looked really worried and he was getting the tickle feeling all down his spine. The three of them started walking around, looking for any hints as to where the demon could be. The demon was definitely hiding in the human world. "I'm serious, you guys. I have a _very_ bad feeling about this."

Hiei was in a very bitter mood today for god knows why. "Oh look, the fool can walk and talk at the same time. You must be using all of your concentration to do so." He sneered.

A vein pulsated in Kuwabara's temple. "What's wrong with you, Hiei?!" Smirking, Kuwabara continued. "You must be PMSing or something."

Angrily, Hiei drew his sword and several people screamed and ran for cover. The sharp end of the blade was pressed against Kuwabara's throat with just enough force to cut him slightly and the crimson blood trailed down the blade. "Say that again, Human!" Hiei spat.

Groaning, Kurama held his head in his hands and said quietly. "Please stop, you two."

Hiei stopped immediately and had a look of sympathy on his face. "Sorry, _koibito_." He sheathed his sword again and gave Kuwabara the meanest look he could muster.

Meanwhile in an alleyway, the shadow demon was watching every move that Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara were making. Shaid laughed. "The fools! They won't find me." A black orb was held in the demon's hands. "They won't even realize what I'm doing. Not until it's too late." The menacing crimson eyes of the demon gazed upon Kurama and its cold laugh continued.

A chill ran up and down Kuwabara's spine, making him shudder unwillingly. "That demon is nearby, you guys!"

Kurama and Hiei turned around abruptly. "Where?!" They asked in unison. Kuwabara pointed to the alleyway. All three of them ran in that direction. The shadow demon saw them coming, but he hadn't expected it. The hooded silhouette dived into the shadows in the alleyway and vanished. Kurama sighed and Hiei kicked a nearby dumpster in frustration. "We've underestimated this demon." Kurama mused.       

Kuwabara walked out of the alleyway and leaned against the brick building next to him. The store across the street from where Kuwabara was standing had several TVs in the store window. A news reporter was on each of the televisions. "Today's main story is about the sudden outbreak of the flu. Doctors say it's very unusual for there to be cases of the flu this time of year. These cases are also very dangerous. Seven people have died already in this area from it. We warn everyone to be careful and see a doctor to get a vaccination the first chance you get. With other news, in the main fisheries there have been reports of large amounts of fish just dying. Scientists are trying to solve this phenomenon. There is a possibility that these two incidences are connected somehow." Kuwabara spun back around to the others.

"Did you hear that?" Kuwabara demanded.

Hiei gave Kuwabara a blank stare. "How could we not, you buffoon?"

Kurama started coughing uncontrollably and when he regained himself he spoke quietly. "This is worse than we thought. We should go visit Koenma himself." The other two agreed simultaneously.

A woman shrieked in horror, catching the attention of the trio. Several people on the sidewalk scattered, some even tripping over other in their panic to get out of the way of a single person kneeling on the ground. Pushing their way through the crowd, Kuwabara was the first to see what had caused such a panic. The person kneeling on the sidewalk was gagging and blood spewed from their mouth, covering the sidewalk. A couple of people shouted for someone to get help while other's screamed about the news report. The ill person stopped their gagging for the moment and turned in circles, great fear in their eyes. They crawled forward and grabbed at Kuwabara's shirt, looking up at him with small, beady, fearful eyes.

"Help me! I'm begging you! Don't let me die like this!!!" His body gave a violent lurch as he crumpled back onto the ground whimpering and coughing. More blood splattered the sidewalk and quite a few women gave more screams and turned away from the pitiful man. Kuwabara was shocked, what _could_ he do?!

The man started writhing on the ground when doctors pushed their way through the crowd to him. They tried to hold him down forcefully which made the man fight against them even more. His outstretched hand raised shakily up to the sky.

"He's going into shock!"

"Hold him down! So we can give him a shot to calm him down!"

All Kuwabara could now see with his eyes was the crowd of doctors and the man's outstretched hand. The hand was shaking violently and gave a sudden spasm, falling limp to the ground.

"It's too late… he's gone…" one of the doctors stated somberly.

"Come Kuwabara… we should hurry." Kurama tapped the stunned Kuwabara on the shoulder.

Nodding, Kuwabara weaved through the crowd again and stared down at the place where the dying man had clenched his shirt begging him for his help… yet he could do nothing…

Hiei looked back at the growing crowd of frightened people. "Sad…"

"Innocent people shouldn't have to go through such pain." Kurama muttered solemnly. "But this is a matter we should discuss with Koenma."

TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter, they visit Koenma and things get even worse.


	3. The Destruction Begins

Chapter Three: The destruction begins

"Koenma, sir!" The blue ogre called into Koenma's office after knocking first. "Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei are here to see you!"

"Send them in already!" Koenma snapped. The current situation in Spirit World was making him feel on edge.

"Y-yes, sir! Right away!" The ogre scampered off and brought back the troubled trio.

"What exactly is going on here?" Kuwabara demanded. "An innocent man just died right before my eyes in the streets!"

"Botan is dead…" Koenma closed his eyes and turned away.

"I don't care-! Huh… what?" Kuwabara shook his head. "Botan can't be dead! How can the grim reaper die?"

"Easy, you fool." Hiei explained. "She just has to lose all of her energy and she's completely lifeless."

"How did she die?" Kurama asked weakly, leaning against Hiei to support himself.

"Beaten to death by the demon, Shaid. A couple hundred of spirit world's ogres are dead too. They all tried to prevent Shaid from stealing the Orb of Order." Koenma clarified.

"Are you going to tell us what the Orb of Order is?" Hiei rolled his eyes.

Koenma turned back to face them all. "The Orb of Order is a divine sphere that holds powerful energy. Its purpose is to make sure the powers in both your world and the spirit world stay balanced and don't cause chaos. So if it's stolen by a demon that wants to destroy the world, it'll start the systematic destruction of everything."

"How does it go about destroying everything?" Kurama whispered. Hiei looked over at Kurama, his eyes softened by Kurama's frailness.

"You are familiar with the story of the ten plagues of Egypt?" Everyone nodded except Kuwabara. "Well, it is a lot like that. Illness will spread, natural disasters, etc."

Hiei whipped around to look at the very pale Kurama. "No…" he breathed.

Seeing what Hiei was assuming, Kurama thought quickly. "Don't worry, Hiei… I've been sick for a little while now. I don't think this orb is the cause."

Hiei hardened his gaze on Kurama. "I insist that you stay home and rest."

"No. You'll need my help." Kurama insisted with a weak smile.

Koenma seemed worried too. "I think Hiei is right to worry. Go home and rest for a little while."

Hiei led Kurama out. "I'll take you home and make sure nothing happens to you." Kurama laughed lightly.

Kuwabara watched the two of them leave. "So what should we do about this?"

"Shaid is a very stealthy demon. We need to wait for him to reappear again before we can strike…" Koenma broke down on his desk. "Everything is going so wrong! And now Botan is gone! King Enma will be furious!!! The only problem isn't just in the Human World either! Demons have been breaking loose and doing what they please in Spirit World too because they heard about how we're struggling to keep this problem contained."

"Not to worry, toddler. Agent Kuwabara will save the world!" Kuwabara strode out of Koenma's office and decided to track down Yusuke.

Stars twinkled in the night sky above a small park. Keiko held a grumbling Yusuke's hand and was staring up at the bright stars. She looked north to see the North Star. It shone the brightest of all and she sighed dreamily. After staring at it for a long time, the North Star seemed to fade and disappear.

"Huh?!" Keiko gasped.

"What?" Yusuke snapped, looking up at the sky and developing a crick in his neck.

"O-oh… must be nothing…" Keiko looked into Yusuke's eyes.

Yusuke grinned at her and leaned in to kiss her. His lips brushed against hers softly.

"Urameshi!!!" Kuwabara panted, running up a hill towards them.

Yusuke pulled away from Keiko quickly and looked innocently in the other direction thinking, _damn_! Keiko blushed and felt disappointed.

"Urameshi! The world is gonna be destroyed by some evil demon called Shaid… I think!" Kuwabara stopped in front of them.

"What else is new?" Yusuke grumbled.

That lit Kuwabara's fuse. Grabbing a handful of Yusuke's school uniform, Kuwabara shook him roughly. "Damn it, Urameshi! I'm serious! Haven't you been listening to the news?"

"No, I was on a date, _baka_." Yusuke smirked.

"The world's going to be destroyed?" Keiko demanded.

"Yes! But don't worry, Keiko." Kuwabara laughed. "I'll save the world by slaying the demon!"

"We're doomed." Yusuke muttered.

"Hey!" Kuwabara snarled. "There was a man on the street that died a terrible death-" something interrupted Kuwabara.

The ground beneath them shook violently. All three of them collapsed onto the ground. Keiko screamed in fright while Yusuke grabbed onto her to calm her down. Then Keiko slapped him for groping her butt.

"What the hell?!" Yusuke looked around. "An earthquake?!"

The nearby building started to crumble at its foundations. Yusuke picked up Keiko and struggled to run farther away from the collapsing buildings. Kuwabara scurried out of the way of anything as well. Setting a shaky Keiko down in the middle of a somewhat clear area in the park, Yusuke wondered how long this earthquake would last. The soil beneath them started to crack and pull away; buildings were becoming mere rubble, and trees were being uprooted. As suddenly as it started, the earthquake ceased and everything came to a dead silent standstill.

"We better find out what happened. And I'm worried if Hiei and Kurama are okay!" Yusuke exclaimed.

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm trying my best on this story. Please tell me if you liked it or if you have any suggestions.


	4. A rose wilts eventually

Chapter Four: A rose wilts eventually

"Kurama! Hiei!" Yusuke called while searching the rubble of the town. Everything was silent and still. It was almost if… everyone was dead.

Keiko screamed from several feet away after lifting some rubble. "Yusuke!"

Fearing the worst, Yusuke jumped over some broken concrete and made his way through the pieces of buildings, twisted cars, and other things. Keiko stepped back to let Yusuke see. It was an innocent civilian that had been crushed by the debris. "No wonder it was so quiet…" Yusuke uncovered more and more bodies. "Everyone is dead…"

Keiko started to cry on Yusuke's shoulder. Kuwabara started to panic. "What about my older sister?! Or Kurama and that shrimp?!"

"Fool, we're still alive." Hiei muttered. Kurama had his arm around Hiei for support. They were covered in dust but otherwise looked okay. Kurama on the other hand looked even paler than before and coughed a lot. "It's a pity you didn't get crushed though." Hiei growled at Kuwabara.

"You are seriously starting to piss me off!" Kuwabara yelled.

Yusuke was patting Keiko on the back. "Kurama? You look like you could croak any moment now."

Kurama laughed lightly. "I've certainly felt better…" He started coughing uncontrollably and covered his mouth with his right hand. When he stopped and pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. Hiei's eyes widened.

"Such a pity; looks like poor Kurama has caught the disease that's killing off everyone else. Maybe I should kill him now and end his misery."

Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei looked around for the voice until a shadow on what remained of a building sprang out into a physical form. "Shaid, you bastard!" Yusuke growled. "Stop this now!"

"Ah, but what would the fun in that be?" Shaid asked in a mocking voice. "I think I'll get rid of your two demon friends first." Shaid was sucked into the ground and the shadow slinked across the ground only to reappear behind Kurama and Hiei. Everything seemed to slow down and Hiei watched in horror as Shaid sprung from the ground, drawing a long twisted blade, raising it up to stab him first. Kurama grabbed Hiei by his black T-shirt and shoved him out of the way. The deformed and warped metal blade was forced down into Kurama's spinal column. The ill fox demon yelled in pain and choked slightly. Shaid then pulled the blade out of Kurama's back and was engulfed by darkness again, cackling madly.

Kurama's limp form fell onto the crumbled ground and Hiei grabbed Kurama's cold hand and held up his head. "Kurama!" Hiei cried. His body lay on the cold concrete below them, blood dripping out from his wound forming a puddle underneath them. He gave a violent cough and more blood dribbled from his mouth. The very light and energy was fading from his green eyes. By the second his body grew colder. Hiei squeezed Kurama's hand reassuringly and through his tears choked, "Kurama… don't die…"

Kuwabara and Yusuke kneeled down beside Kurama and Hiei, Keiko still sobbed on Yusuke's shoulder.

Kurama's eyes fluttered open briefly to look up at Hiei. "I was… dying… anyway… Hiei…" Weakly he raised his hand to brush the tear off of Hiei's cheek.

In anguish Hiei gritted his teeth and yelled, "No! Please don't go!" The once cold hearted and distant fire demon collapsed into tears and rested his head on Kurama's chest.

Kurama took a sharp breath and Hiei could feel his body shudder as it became too painful for Kurama to even breath. Hiei's chest and throat tightened. Even though Hiei had yelled at him, Kurama laughed lightly. "Hiei… I'll be waiting… for you… I promise…" Hiei looked up into Kurama's dark and hazy eyes. The fox demon's body relaxed and became stiff.

"NO!" Hiei screamed in agony. "NO!" He repeated over and over. The truth being too painful for him to bear… Hiei laid his forehead on Kurama's cold flesh, stroking his soft red hair.

The other three mourned silently. The darkened night sky changed to a pale gray, sunlight starting to creep up over the ruined city and shine on the destruction. Yusuke pried Keiko off of himself and rose, approaching his distraught friend slowly. His palm was laid onto Hiei's shoulder. "Hiei?"

Releasing Kurama's hand, Hiei folded his beloved's arms across his chest, took off his leather jacket, resting it under Kurama's head like a pillow and stood. With almost no expression on his face, and his eyes cloudy, Hiei turned and walked away from the corpse. The sorrowful sunshine peeked over a crumbled building and shone on Kurama's form. There was a small smile on his face as he rested in peace.

TO BE CONTINUED

Another short chapter I know… but now that Kurama is dead, will Hiei be able to press on and fight?


	5. The Will to Fight On

Chapter Five: The Will to Fight On

The remaining four walked aimlessly among the wreckage. No matter where they looked there was no one alive but them. Yusuke's head was hung low and his arm was around the tearful Keiko. Kuwabara didn't dare break the silence and was mourning his own loved ones. Hiei was lagging behind. You could see in Hiei's eyes how angry he was. He would probably kill the first thing he saw whether it be a friend or foe. There wasn't even a single bird in the sky that morning. Yusuke had been deep in thought… It didn't seem like Koenma was doing too much about the situation from Spirit World. But nonetheless they needed to regroup and strategize.

"Hiei, Kuwabara." Yusuke stopped his trudging and faced the other two. "We need to retreat to Reikai for awhile."

"Yeah…" Kuwabara agreed.

Hiei nodded but was paying more attention to their surroundings. "We have company…" Hiei drew his sword as lower E class demons appeared from their hiding places in the ruins.

"Ke he he heh. Look what we found! Fresh meat! And I was under the impression that they were all squashed like the little parasites they are." One of the demons snickered.

"Who's up for some major ass kicking?" Yusuke asked the other two, and they nodded, ready for battle.

"These three humans should taste much better than that fox demon we ate a couple of minutes ago." Another demon piped up.

Hiei growled and his anger became too much to control. "I'll kill you all and send you to HELL!!!" Within the blink of an eye, Hiei had cut down all the demons with his unsurpassed speed.

Keiko had been backing away from the others in order to stay out of the way of the fighting and stood in the shadow of a halfway crumbled building. Kuwabara jerked his head to the top of the building where some more demons had appeared. "Keiko, look out!" Kuwabara started running towards her. The demons pushed large concrete slabs from the building off the edge to fall on Kuwabara and Keiko. Hiei slaughtered the demons on the roof but the debris fell anyway. Keiko screamed as the concrete fell and a large cloud of smoke rose around them.

"KEIKO!!!" Yusuke yelled. "KUWABARA!!!"

When the dust settled, neither Keiko nor Kuwabara could be seen, only a large pile of rubble in the place of where they had been standing.

"NO!" Yusuke started punching a close wall until it crumbled like dust. A blinding blue aura surrounded the emotion conflicted spirit detective. "THAT BASTARD SHAID IS GOING TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING HE'S DONE!!!"

Hiei would've told Yusuke to keep his cool and not get angry but he couldn't because he did the same just a few minutes before. "We better get to Reikai now." Was the only thing Hiei could say.

Later at the Reikai Palace…

"What happened to this place?" Yusuke could barely see anything through the darkness. "Ow! I tripped over something!"

Hiei took off the white bandage around his forehead, revealing his Jagan eye. "You tripped over a dead ogre…"

"Joy…" Yusuke said sarcastically. "I'm guessing that bastard, Shaid, got here before us. I swear I'll kill him…" Yusuke gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Hn." Hiei nodded even though Yusuke couldn't see it. Through the darkness, they made their way to Koenma's office. From what they could see, cabinets were tipped over, papers scattered everywhere, and Koenma's desk was an absolute mess. His chair was turned, facing away from them but suddenly turned around with Shaid sitting in it and he propped his feet up onto the desk.

"Name calling isn't very nice you know, Yusuke." Shaid sneered.  

"You should talk…" Yusuke sneered back.

Shaid laughed. "The time for me to fight you is not now." Yusuke yelled in frustration as Shaid vanished in the shadows once again.

"Damn it! Not again! How can we even kill this stupid demon when all he does is run?!" Yusuke shouted angrily at the chair Shaid had vacated.

"What's the point anymore Yusuke…?" Hiei muttered.

"Huh?" Yusuke snapped out of his sudden fit of rage.

"What's the point in fighting any more? You've lost the ones you care about most… Keiko… and Kuwabara." Yusuke couldn't read Hiei's features in the darkness but something about his tone sent a shiver down his spine. "And Kurama…" Hiei's voice cracked. "Kurama's gone!" Hiei spat bitterly.

Yusuke put his arm firmly on Hiei's shoulder but the angry fire demon jerked his shoulder free. "Hiei… don't beat yourself up for this… we will make Shaid pay for this…" Yusuke reassured him.

Hiei didn't listen. "I could have stopped Shaid from murdering Kurama! Shaid's speed can never match mine! But I was too stunned from the sudden assault to react in time! Now I'm just making excuses…" Hiei sighed grimly.

"I told you, don't beat yourself up over it… " Yusuke noticed he didn't seem to be able to get through to Hiei.

"That fool Kuwabara is gone as well… your _beloved_ Keiko was killed along with him… and everyone else in Reikai was slaughtered too…" Hiei was fingering the hilt of his sword delicately. "Face it, detective… there's nobody left to save. What we're doing is pointless!" Hiei snarled.

"Hiei! Listen to me! Shaid deserves all of our hatred, frustration, and everything else!" Yusuke growled. In the darkness Yusuke heard Hiei's sword being drawn and what little light there was reflected off the blade revealing that the sword was hovering over Hiei's heart. "HIEI DON'T!!!" Yusuke tried to get near Hiei, to stop him but with a blast of Hiei's energy he forced Yusuke back against the wall to just watch in horror as his comrade committed suicide.

"I can't bear to live in any of the three worlds anymore! I'd rather be burning in one of the seven hells with Kurama!" Hiei thrust the blade into his heart, making him spit up blood but he didn't die instantly…

"HIEI!!!" Yusuke shrieked, wanting to help against any hope of saving Hiei.

Hiei could no longer force Yusuke back as he slumped to the ground. "Just… kill Shaid… " Hiei whispered and his eyes were disoriented and cloudy. "I see you… Kurama… you're waiting… just as… you… promised…" The fire demon's crimson eyes darkened and his head flopped to one side.

"HIEI!!!" Yusuke yelled in anguish. "YOU BASTARD!!! YOU LEFT ME!!! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!" The enraged detective couldn't stop his tears this time… now that everyone was gone his composure had cracked… A forever had gone by when Yusuke found the strength within him to lift himself off of the ground in Koenma's destroyed office. The blinding blue aura surrounded Yusuke once more while our detective trudged through the halls of the Reikai palace. A wooden door creaked open loudly, allowing Yusuke to pass through. Inside the room was a large pile of dry wood. Yusuke knelt down next to the pile of wood… it was perfect for burning. Yusuke dragged his feet to the top of the mound and kicked it down so it was level and in a large circle. This would be his grave after all…

"Well, well, now…" Shaid appeared and approached Yusuke. "I wasn't expecting you to be all alone by this time. But I guess that's how the demon dies." Shaid was almost grinning under his hood.

"What do _you_ want you monster?" Yusuke growled.

"Ah, about that, I'm just here to witness the death of my adversary."

"Is that so…?" Yusuke made the shape of a gun with his right hand and charged up his spirit gun for Shaid. Shaid dove back into the shadows of the ground.

"You can't defeat me so easily, Yusuke!" Shaid cackled.

"Says _you_!" Yusuke aimed at the wood and not at Shaid. Shaid hadn't noticed that he had dove into the shadows of the wood, which quickly caught on fire. Before they knew it both of them were surrounded by flames. The blazing light forced Shaid to take his physical form in the center of the flames.

"W-what are you doing?! You'll die as well!" Shaid stammered, afraid for the first time.

"I'm gonna drag your sorry ass down to hell with me. Might as well get used to the heat for it's gonna be even hotter down in hell." Yusuke smirked.

Shaid's cloak caught on fire and the heat of the flames easily consumed the shadow demon's form, reducing it to ashes with one last piercing shriek from Shaid. The flames burned Yusuke's flesh and he felt himself falling to the ground in the middle of all the flames. Fiery red turned to ash black.

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Yusuke was standing in a field of green; completely different from the makeshift fiery hell he had created. There was a single tree in the field. Hiei sat in the high branches of the tree making snide remarks to Kuwabara who was too scared to climb and yelled at the small fire demon. Kurama was laughing at the spectacle. Shizuru, Botan, and Keiko were all chatting at the base of the tree. Well… everyone had waited for him at least. Yusuke grinned.

THE END

Well, this is my second finished Yu Yu Hakusho fan fic. Hope you enjoyed it. See ya'll next time I write!


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